


the inheritance question

by ArmedWithAStaringFly



Series: Rey Skywalker Drabbles [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Rey Skywalker, Speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 17:04:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9281447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmedWithAStaringFly/pseuds/ArmedWithAStaringFly
Summary: Rey didn't know for certain why the lightsaber chose her. But given the way the mythical Luke Skywalker looked at her, she had a suspicion.Originally written for Rey Skywalker week on Tumblr. Takes place immediately after the end of TFA.





	

They sat, and Luke still stared. Rey flicked her eyes between the small meat and root scraps he’d placed in front of her and the fireplace he’d used to cook them. Anything to not stare in awe at him too. Luke Skywalker. The Jedi. The Hero. The Myth. Sitting there in the flesh, looking at her with intense blue eyes that she could swear were looking right into her soul. She tried to shake the thought that it was very possible they actually were. The Force was still a mysterious thing.

She’d surprised herself by breaking the silence out on the cliff, holding his lightsaber in shaking hands. “Luke Skywalker,” she’d said, willing herself not to stutter and forcing her head up, “I believe this is yours.”

“Was,” he’d replied, just above a whisper. He’d blinked away tears. Metal clicked against metal as he had taken the hilt in his robotic hand, the only part of him she’d seen in her vision. He’d chuckled nostalgically when the blue beam shot out. “I haven’t used this decades. But thank you.”

She couldn’t find words, had just nodded and swallowed. There’d been something else she’d been ignoring, a stirring weight in her stomach. That face seemed familiar. He’d looked at her like he knew her, but he never thought he’d see her again. His gaze never left her face even as he took his lightsaber, and fondness still radiated from him. His eyes had continued to dampen as they entered their second silence. 

Until he’d coughed, looked away, and smiled self-consciously. “Come with me, you must be hungry.”

She’d followed him wordlessly to the other side of the mountain, to a secluded cottage hidden away by trees and surrounded by the markings of a someone who lived alone. She’d recognized her own life in the charcoal remains of past fires, ancient and obviously scavenged pots and tools, and even a curious arrangement of sticks that resembled an x-wing. Rey had found herself smiling at the idea of this old man using the great and powerful Force to craft a child’s plaything.

He’d opened the door and they’d entered. 

Rey opened her mouth more than once to start a conversation, but before long her focus was back on the meat. She ate slowly, not knowing what she’d do after it was gone.

“What’s your name?” he asked. She couldn’t ignore the feeling that he already knew.

“Rey,” she mumbled. She finally looked up to see him nod. “Y-your sister sent me.”

In the warm firelight, she could see fresh tears. “Leia. Of course she did.” He smiled sadly at Rey. “You might say Leia and I take twin telepathy to a new level…and I felt something through her. Pain, like someone died.” He huffed out a shaky breath. “I assume…?”

There they were, images of a blood red lightsaber and a wookie’s crying in despair. Rey clutched her fists, blocked them from her mind, and nodded gently. “Yes. Han. I saw Kylo Ren do it. I fought him afterwards and defeated him, but he’s still…”

“Ben,” Luke breathed, shaking his head and clutching his hands. “I can’t believe he went that far.”

Rey’s mind buzzed with questions. How, when did Ben Solo go dark? Why couldn’t Luke stop him? Was he not the most powerful Jedi in the universe? How did he not sense _her? Why did he leave?_

Her body tensed, and she dropped her fork back into her bowl. Suddenly she wanted to shout that last question, his kind and strangely familiar eyes be damned. If he’d only been there, only had the _courage_  to stay and help fight this war, instead of _running_ from his problems like a _child_ , so many lives would have been spared. The life of his supposed _friend…_

“I don’t care for using the Force to invade people’s thoughts,” he sighed. “It’s just too invasive, without permission.”

_At least that’s one way the teacher differs from the student._

“But your anger was sent right to me, and it was hard to ignore. I’m sorry for everything. I truly am.” He stood, and Rey immediately wanted to scoot back. Luke slowly stepped towards her, as if he were testing the waters, trying to see if she’d recoil. She didn’t. She fixed her glare on him, if not just to hide how he intimidated her. “I can explain why I came here soon, and I promise it was not out of fear.” He knelt in front of her, and for a moment she wondered if he’d place a hand on hers. He didn’t, but smiled at her hopefully, and she felt the instant urge to trust him. She couldn’t tell if it was his face or the Force, and she didn’t like it. “I’m looking for a solution. But for the time being, I assume Leia sent you to me to be trained. Unfortunately this island lacks vines for you to swing on as I ride on your back.”

Rey stared at him blankly. “What?”

He cleared his throat. “Nevermind.” He pulled his lightsaber from his cloak, placing it her lap. “This is yours. I built my own after I lost it, and I sense it calls to you. How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

Luke smirked. “Always a life-changing age for people in…” Suddenly, he clamped his mouth shut. “…for people. You’re expected to be an adult, but are in still so many ways a child. I know I was when I first blew up the Death Star. People may tell all kinds of stories about me, but never let anyone make you believe I really knew what I was doing.”

Rey gave him a weak smile. “I don’t much know what I’m doing right now.”

“That’s okay. It’s okay to admit when you’re unsure, and okay to admit when you’re scared. In fact, pride is far more dangerous.”

Rey nodded, and Luke Skywalker returned her uneasy, but hopeful, expression as he stood. He glanced towards the window, just a hole carved in the wall, where the sky had darkened and two moons hung in the sky. “We’ll start within the next few days, so you best get some rest in the time being.”

Rey shook her head. “I don’t need rest, I need get stronger. I need to defeat Kylo Ren–”

Luke placed a hand on her shoulder, and she didn’t feel the urge to push it away. Instead, a strange warmth spread through her, a comfort, as oddly familiar as his eyes. “You are already so strong, Rey, stronger than I was just a matter of days after I began learning the Force.”

“You shot down the Deathstar.”

“You defeated a trained Force-user after days of even knowing about it. Do you understand how incredible that is?”

She didn’t answer.

“And you won’t get stronger unless you find peace and rest.”

Rey bit her lip and gripped the lightsaber in her lap. She is worthy of this saber, she told herself. It chose her.

Luke moved his hand from her shoulder to take the blade. “May I?” She nodded.

He held the hilt gently in his good hand, almost like it was fragile. “So many years since this belonged to me–”

“And your father before you.” Rey added. “And now it calls to me.” Maz’s words echoed in her ear distantly, almost from a different life. Luke showed just the hint of a smile, and there was a glint in his eye, like when she had first emerged on the cliff. Though there was still one thing she wasn’t sure about. One answer she needed before she felt truly ready to hold it. “Why? Why me?”

Luke sighed deeply, closing his eyes. He mumbled something, but she couldn’t hear, and she sensed it wasn’t meant for her. Though the last word sounded somehow apologetic. “I’ll tell you soon. At the right time.”

“But–”

“I’m sorry. Please, rest.” He motioned towards a bed area that she supposed was his. Placing the saber back in her lap, he turned away from her. With one last unsure look behind, walked away, leaving Rey alone in the darkened room with the saber.

She stared down at it, silver metal glinting in the moonlight. She could feel its history reverberating in the air around it…battles, strife, but also love, and redemption. Visions came slowly this time, and not flashing in her eyes like before, but whispering in her mind like gentle ghosts who didn’t want to scare her. Just impressions of memories, like faded dreams. 

A boy, not Luke but with a similar face, building it out of a glowing crystal. The same boy, now a man, handing it to a woman as a token of love. Fighting alongside a smiling young girl with two blades of her own. Being handed to Luke, feeling like it had finally come home. Just as it had when handed to her.

Rey slowly walked to the small bed Luke had pointed out to her, placing the saber beside her and laying down. 

Such a curious contraption. Choosing her, a no one, to inherit what had once been inherited from father to son. 

She had a suspicion to why that was. A suspicion to why this saber flew to her over its original owner’s grandson, why the mythical Luke Skywalker seemed so familiar, and why he looked at her like he had missed her every moment of her life. 

But that idea, though perhaps wonderful, scared her more than anything else. 


End file.
